Zoe Chacehttp://mtpr.org
enYY Changes Its Tune After Karaoke Is A Hithttp://mtpr.org/post/yy-changes-its-tune-after-karaoke-hit
<div class="fullattribution">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.<img src="http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=YY+Changes+Its+Tune+After+Karaoke+Is+A+Hit&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDA3OTgyNDI4MDEzMTM0MjQzMTZlNDI0Mg004)"/></div><p>Transcript <p>DAVID GREENE, HOST: <p>Some businesses make money the moment they put out their product. Others figure it out as they go. And often the users of the product are the ones who teach you how to make money. That is exactly what happened with the Chinese company YY.Mon, 15 Dec 2014 10:01:00 +0000Zoe Chace28357 at http://mtpr.orgDead Chickens, A Tiny Motor And The Story Of Alibabahttp://mtpr.org/post/dead-chickens-tiny-motor-and-story-alibaba
Last year, Shawn Hector bought some baby chicks. He put them outside in a little chicken coop, but it did not go well. The chicks were eaten by hawks, foxes and raccoons.<p>Shawn decided the world needed a better chicken coop. He and a buddy, Steve Deutsch, should build it themselves. They figured there might be a market for a high-tech chicken coop, and dreamed of starting a little business.<p>The parts they'd need — motors, sensors — are all made in China.Thu, 04 Sep 2014 07:34:00 +0000Zoe Chace24245 at http://mtpr.orgPenny Hoarders Hope For The Day The Penny Dieshttp://mtpr.org/post/penny-hoarders-hope-day-penny-dies
Transcript <p>AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: <p>Every year, the U.S. government loses money minting pennies. They cost around twice as much to make as they're worth. And some politicians and economists say we ought to just get rid of them. They want the U.S. to kill the penny, take it out of circulation. If that happens, a small group of people plan to make a bunch of money.<p>NPR's Zoe Chace has that story from our Planet Money team.<p>ZOE CHACE, BYLINE: Steve Wardak is one of those people. This guy is a big fan of the penny. He's never walked past a penny on the street and not picked it up.Wed, 21 May 2014 20:10:00 +0000Zoe Chace19396 at http://mtpr.orgWhen Lyrics Get Posted Online, Who Gets Paid?http://mtpr.org/post/when-lyrics-get-posted-online-who-gets-paid
Any time a song is popular, you'll find people debating it. And at some point during that debate, someone is going to Google the lyrics.<p>There are roughly 5 million searches for lyrics per day on Google, according to LyricFind. Those searches often lead to websites that post lyrics to lots of songs — and, in many cases, sites that post ads alongside those lyrics.<p>David Lowery, frontman and songwriter for Cracker and Camper van Beethoven, is waging war on the sites he believes make money off song lyrics but don't pay the songwriter.Fri, 09 May 2014 07:53:00 +0000Zoe Chace18798 at http://mtpr.orgWhen Lyrics Get Posted Online, Who Gets Paid?Across The Atlantic, Glimpse An Alternate Internet Universehttp://mtpr.org/post/across-atlantic-glimpse-alternate-internet-universe
<div class="fullattribution">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.<img src="http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Across+The+Atlantic%2C+Glimpse+An+Alternate+Internet+Universe&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAwMjUwMzQ2MDEyNjIyMDkxNjA1MzMzYw004)"/></div><p>Transcript <p>AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: <p>Already for many Americans, there are few options when it comes to high-speed broadband. And the reason, says Zoe Chace with our Planet Money team, goes back to a moment when the U.S.Wed, 09 Apr 2014 21:27:00 +0000Zoe Chace17425 at http://mtpr.orgAn Old Law, A Snowy Winter, And A Modern-Day Salt Shortagehttp://mtpr.org/post/how-old-law-caused-modern-day-salt-shortage
There were so many winter storms in New Jersey this year that the state nearly ran out of the salt used to melt snow and ice on the roads.<p>State officials thought they had found a solution when they discovered an extra 40,000 tons of rock salt for sale up in Searsport, Maine.<p>The state bought the salt but ran into problems getting it to New Jersey — despite the fact that there was an enormous, empty cargo ship, sitting at the Searsport port, headed down to Newark.<p>"I mean, it was just like serendipity," says Joe Dee, chief of staff with the New Jersey Department of Transportation.Fri, 28 Feb 2014 08:28:00 +0000Zoe Chace15589 at http://mtpr.orgAn Old Law, A Snowy Winter, And A Modern-Day Salt ShortageHow A Community Bank Tripped On Footnote 1,861 Of The Volcker Rulehttp://mtpr.org/post/how-community-bank-tripped-footnote-1861-volcker-rule
When people talk about the Volcker Rule, they often mention JPMorgan Chase, the giant bank where a trader recently made a bad bet that lost $6 billion. The Volcker Rule is supposed to put an end to that sort of thing, by prohibiting banks from trading with their own money.<p>But some banks that are very, very different from JPMorgan Chase are struggling with an obscure provision in the rule.Fri, 10 Jan 2014 23:35:00 +0000Zoe Chace13508 at http://mtpr.orgThe Secret Protectionism Buried Inside NAFTAhttp://mtpr.org/post/secret-protectionism-buried-inside-nafta
Transcript <p>DAVID GREENE, HOST: <p>Now NPR's Zoe Chase, from our Planet Money Team, reminds us about one industry that played a big role in NAFTA's passage: men's underwear.<p>ZOE CHACE, BYLINE: Now you're used to the labels: made in Mexico, made in China, made in Bangladesh.Thu, 26 Dec 2013 09:50:00 +0000Zoe Chace12901 at http://mtpr.orgTwo Sisters, A Small Room And The World Behind A T-Shirthttp://mtpr.org/post/two-sisters-small-room-and-world-behind-t-shirt
<em>Part of the <a href="http://apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/title" target="_blank">Planet Money T-shirt Project</a></em><p>This is the story of how the garment industry is transforming life in Bangladesh, and the story of two sisters who made the Planet Money T-shirt.<p>Shumi and Minu work six days a week operating sewing machines at Deluxe Fashions Ltd. in Chittagong, Bangladesh.Tue, 03 Dec 2013 21:06:00 +0000Zoe Chace & Caitlin Kenney11929 at http://mtpr.orgTwo Sisters, A Small Room And The World Behind A T-ShirtNixon And Kimchi: How The Garment Industry Came To Bangladesh http://mtpr.org/post/nixon-and-kimchi-how-garment-industry-came-bangladesh
<em>More details were added to this post after it was published. The new information was courtesy of Vidiya Khan, director of the Desh Group, and daughter of Noorul Quader.</em><p>Bangladesh was created out of chaos in the early 1970s, at a moment when millions in the country were dying from a combination of war and famine. The future looked exceedingly bleak.<p>Abdul Majid Chowdhury and Noorul Quader were Bangladeshi businessmen who wanted to help their country. "We asked ourselves, 'What the hell do we want?' " Chowdhury recalls.Mon, 02 Dec 2013 20:57:00 +0000Zoe Chace11996 at http://mtpr.orgNixon And Kimchi: How The Garment Industry Came To Bangladesh Heard It Through The Grapevine: Raisin Grower Goes Roguehttp://mtpr.org/post/heard-it-through-grapevine-raisin-grower-goes-rogue
<div class="fullattribution">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.<img src="http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Heard+It+Through+The+Grapevine%3A+Raisin+Grower+Goes+Rogue&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDA3OTgyNDI4MDEzMTM0MjQzMTZlNDI0Mg004)"/></div><p>Transcript <p>DAVID GREENE, HOST: <p>Now, the story of a man many call an outlaw. His crime: growing raisins and then deciding to sell them all.Wed, 14 Aug 2013 09:21:00 +0000Zoe Chace6789 at http://mtpr.orgThe Raisin Outlaw Of Kerman, Calif. http://mtpr.org/post/raisin-outlaw-kerman-california
Meet Marvin Horne, raisin farmer. Horne has been farming raisins on a vineyard in Kerman, Calif., for decades. But a couple of years ago, he did something that made a lot of the other raisin farmers out here in California really angry. So angry that they hired a private investigator to spy on Horne and his wife, Laura. Agents from a detective agency spent hours sitting outside the Hornes' farm recording video of trucks entering and leaving the property.<p>What did the Hornes do to become the subject of a surveillance campaign? They sold raisins.Fri, 09 Aug 2013 18:42:00 +0000Zoe Chace6615 at http://mtpr.orgThe Raisin Outlaw Of Kerman, Calif. Stamps, Jeans, Beer: What Americans Want From North Koreahttp://mtpr.org/post/stamps-jeans-beer-what-americans-want-north-korea
U.S. sanctions mean that any citizen or business wanting to buy stuff from North Korea has to send a letter to the U.S. government asking for special permission. A few months back, we submitted a Freedom of Information Act request, asking for those letters.<p>Our request was granted: We recently received a packet of 18 letters from Americans who wanted to do business with the most isolated nation on the planet.Fri, 26 Jul 2013 16:49:00 +0000Zoe Chace5924 at http://mtpr.orgStamps, Jeans, Beer: What Americans Want From North KoreaThe 'Ask Your Uncle' Approach To Economicshttp://mtpr.org/post/ask-your-uncle-approach-economics
The Beige Book is weird. It's an economic report released by the Federal Reserve every few months, but it doesn't have many numbers in it. Mostly, it's a bunch of stories gathered by talking to businesses around the country.Wed, 17 Jul 2013 20:36:00 +0000Zoe Chace5494 at http://mtpr.orgThe 'Ask Your Uncle' Approach To Economics